Friday, 15 February 2008

Celebrating Valentine's Day is not considered a German tradition. In recent years, it seems to have caught on a bit but you probably won't see many of the last-minute, rose-buying, desperate-feeling boyfriends storming into a flower shop. Whilst I understand that many men think it ridiculous to buy completely overpriced stuff just because it's the 14th of February, I still think it's never too late to have a bit more romance in your life!

When I saw Zorra's announcement of A Heart for Your Valentine , I knew that I had to participate. With my boyfriend coming from the Black Forest Area, I also knew instantly what to make for him. The only problem, I didn't have any kirsch which is more or less the crucial ingredient for a proper Black Forest Cake. However, love is all about ignoring little imperfections, right..;-)

With only a cookie cutter in heart-shape, this black forest cake comes in very small portions but it's entirely up to you how many you'll eat...

Zorra is posting the round-up continuously in twoparts, so check-out all the wonderful heart-shaped creations!

5Sift the flower and baking powder (if using) onto the foamy egg yolks. Pour the chocolate-butter mixture on top. Do not mix at this stage.

6Add one third of the meringue and stir in to lighten the batter. Lightly fold in the remaining meringue.

7Pour into a baking pan (26 cm in diametre or a baking sheet) that's buttered only at the bottom. To be safe, use baking paper, too. Bake immediately. A round cake takes roughly 35 minutes, a sheet cake a bit shorter. The cake is done when the top feels springy. Don't overbake or the cake will dry out.

8Once cooled, cut out little hearts and assemble or fill one large cake with cherries and cream.

The sourceGU: "Die grosse Schule des Backens"

The hintSome recipes specify that you can also add kirsch to the cream. If you want to really taste the kirsch that way, you'll have to add a lot and I recommend stabilizing the cream with gelatin. Many, many years ago, I added too much kirsch, the cream wouldn't become stiff, I kept beating and ended up with kirsch-flavoured butter...

How cute, Eva! Blackforest cake used to be my favourite cake, when I was a kid.

We don't bother celebrating Valentine's Day, so I didn't get round to making anything heartshaped for Zorra's event.

It was cute and amusing to see all these uncomfortable looking guys milling around the florist at the train station on the evening of Feb 14th, trying to decide what to take home with them.. let's see... roses, or.. roses.

A sweet sin, indeed! I have the same problems to find good Kirsch, so import from Switzerland. As I love Kirsch I soak the cake for 24 hours with plenty of Kirsch, so you don't need to add Kirsch to the cream.

Thank you for your participation, I hope you had a happy Valentine's Day.

Looks so pretty! I am still thinking about how yummy the cake was when you turned it into a triffle, even with peaches instead of cherries. I will have to wait for your wedding to taste the "real thing". :-)

Thanks again for the lovely picnic last night. I slept in till about 11am!

Nora, you're so kind! Thanks for the lovely lunch and the wonderful cake! I actually thought about taking a photo but T. had already eaten off some of the decoration..;-) We both enjoyed it very much (for breakfast!) and I'll have a little bit saved for later! Speak to you soon!